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Everyone agrees that first impressions are very important and that a person has only 7 seconds to make that impression whenever you meet someone new.

With your corporate image it is no different. When a customer visits your web site, your company’s social media channels or read any corporate marketing material where your photograph appears, it is important to make a great first impression.

Having great corporate portrait imagery serves a number of purposes. People wants to see the face behind the name and it also portrays a more reputable and professional brand.

In the current digital world that we find ourselves in, human contact has become more and more distant and the first contact a customer usually has with your company is either via your web site, your social media channels or your printed marketing material. It is thus important to make the best first impression in any of these marketing channels, as this would be the face they would put to the name going forward.Having great corporate portrait imagery serves a number of purposes. People want to see the face behind the name and it also portrays a more reputable and professional brand.

People want to see the face behind the name.

People are social beings and they want to deal with a person, not just a company logo and image is very important to your customer. In many cases it would be the difference between a business deal or not.

Your company’s reputation is very important and a professional look must be part of your business marketing goals. It is also important that you regularly update your photographs. You don’t want to look like the image from your high school year book. A professionally taken corporate portrait image will ensure high quality and consistency across all marketing channels.

Your corporart image must not only define you, but also the environment in which you work

The images must also reflect your business and must ensure that the image not only defines you, but also the environment in which you work. A photograph with a suit and tie when you are in the construction business would not portray your business effectively. Another no-no is using ‘selfies’ that were taken on your cell phone or at a place not portraying your business.

So when you are ready next time to review your company’s marketing goals, ensure that you include your corporate portrait images as part of your marketing goals that they are done professionally and they reflect your company correctly.

At PiKs Photography we have a mobile photo studio and do on location Corporate Portrait photo shoots to ensure you are not out of your business environment at all. As time is money, we will work around your schedule and get the job done right, first time.

According to Wikipedia, pinhole photography is taking a photo with a camera without a lens and only a small pinhole, effectively the camera becomes only a light proof box with a very small hole in it.

Pinhole photography – Flowers in the garden

There are special pinhole cameras available, but it is possible to use a modern DSLR camera to take pinhole photographs. You only need to make your own pinhole lens. This can be done by using a lens cap. There are numerous articles on the web available showing you how to make a pinhole lens.

Due to not having a proper lens on the camera, the camera settings become very important to ensure you create good pinhole photographs. These factors are also very much part and parcel of normal photography. The two main factors would be light and shutter speed. Aperture does not come into play and cannot be changed, as there is only the very small pinhole and this is fixed. Composition and your camera gear are two other factors to consider.

The pinhole, which dictates your aperture, is fixed and therefor you cannot change aperture. Thus in order to ensure clear images, the only other factors you can manipulate would be the light or ISO and shutter speed. It is thus important to use the best light available and if taking pinhole photographs early morning or late afternoon, during the golden hour times, you would be using a slow shutter speed, even as high as 30 seconds. It may also need to use a shutter release cable if you need to go beyond a 30 second shutter speed. If the light is very low, you may push your ISO up in order to have a faster shutter speed. Remember that the slower the shutter speed, the bigger chance there is for camera shake. In this case, the use of a steady platform for your camera, such as a tripod or table would be highly recommended.

Because of the small hole, it would be almost impossible to use the camera’s view finder to see what the image looks like and this makes composing your photograph a bit more difficult. You can use the live view if available on your camera.

This is where thinking about your composition before you press the shutter release button becomes very important.

As far as gear is concerned, the most important items apart from your camera and pinhole lese, would be a shutter release cable and a tripod. Both these items aid in ensuring a steady camera and eliminating camera shake and blurry photographs. Because of the fixed aperture and no real lens to ensure proper focussing, and very steady camera is very important. A steady tripod and a camera release cable would ensure that you have the steadiest platform from which to shoot your pinhole photographs.

As a final thought, here are a few tips that would come in handy when doing pinhole photography.

Use the best light available

Carefully select your shutter speed to ensure clear images

If needed, push up your ISO to compensate for low light situations

Use a tripod and shutter release cable to ensure a steady platform to shoot from